The Western Reserve. 259
THE WESTERN RESERVE.
HOW
IT HAS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE HISTORY
OF OHIO AND OF THE NATION.
BY F. E. HUTCHINS, ESQ.
The Connecticut Western Reserve, or, as
it is commonly
called, "The Western Reserve,"
has from the beginning played
an important part not only in the
affairs of the State of Ohio,
but also in those of the United States.
While there is a very
good general idea of what this
"Reserve" now is, especially
among its own people and those of the
State, but little is gen-
erally known of its origin, history,
settlement, or the reason for
its name. The subject is much too
extensive to be treated ex-
cept in the most general way, upon such
an occasion as this.
It had its origin in that most prolific
source of controversies
among men and nations - a dispute as to
boundary - and was
the result of that which if adopted, as
in this case, would pre-
vent much of war and litigation - a
compromise.
From the first settlement of this
country by the early Pil-
grims, the British Sovereigns, from
"Good Queen Bess", down
to a time near our revolution, had made
extensive grants of
land in this country to the different
colonies and provinces here,
and to favorites of the Crown, and some in
payment of debts
and obligations, notably, so far as this
talk is concerned, to Mas-
sachusetts, Connecticut, New York,
Maryland, and Virginia, and
to Lord Baltimore and William Penn.
Some of these grants extended clear
across the continent,
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, while
others had very indefinite
extents and boundaries, frequently
conflicting with and over-
lapping upon each other, so that under
these grants, different
provinces and different persons claimed
the same land. And,
as none had any other title than that
from the British Crown,
infinite confusion and disputes ensued.
These disputes be-
came so fierce as to result in armed
hostilities and in the shed-
260 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
ding of blood. They were many times
before the Colonial Con-
gress, and they delayed the acceptance
of the Articles of Con-
federation, which were not finally
accepted by the Thirteen Colo-
nies until 1777, Maryland being the last to come in.
Many of the most distinguished citizens
and statesmen of
that time took part in the endeavor to
adjust these disputes and
settle these conflicting claims, and
their efforts were finally
crowned with success, resulting in the
cession and surrender
of these disputed claims and lands to
the general Government for
the benefit of all the States.
And here, as this entertainment is
intended to be somewhat
educational in its character, I want to
stop in my history of the
Western Reserve to tell you of something
in which the people
of that section have felt most profound
interest. You have all
heard of the famous "Mason and
Dixon's Line," by which the
compromise measures of Congress
endeavored to settle the ir-
reconcilable conflict between slavery
and freedom in the United
States, to prevent two irreconcilable
and antagonistic principles
from coming in conflict when placed side
by side, by devoting
all of our territory and public domain,
west of the Missouri and
north of that line to freedom, and all
south of it to slavrey.
The general idea, and I have no doubt
most of you shart
it, is that this line had its origin and
name in these iniqui-
tous compromise measures fixing the
boundary between freedom
and slavery, but this is a mistake. The
line was run and had
its name nearly a century earlier, and
it came about in this way:
King Charles I had made a large grant of
land to Lord Balti-
more and Charles II had made large
grants to his brother the
Duke of York, and one to William Penn in
payment of a debt
due to Penn's father. These grants
included what are now the
States of Pennsylvania,Maryland,and
Delaware, and much more.
Penn purchased from the Duke of York
much or all of his title.
The boundaries of these grants were so
uncertain as to lead to
most serious disputes and controversies,
chiefly as to what was
the southern boundary of William Penn's
grant - the Province
of Pennsylvania - and the northern
boundary of Maryland and
Virginia. These began between William
Penn and Lord Balti-
more. Finally these two proprietors sent
over from England
The Western Reserve. 261
two eminent mathematicians, Jeremiah
Mason and Charles
Dixon, to survey and settle this line,
which they did in 1763-1767.
They surveyed and established a line
commencing at a point
in the Delaware River and running due
west, and marked it
with mile-stones for two hundred and
forty-four miles, which
was the southern boundary of
Pennsylvania, and the northern
one of Maryland, and has so remained to
this day. Its precise
location is 39 degrees 43 minutes 26
3-10 seconds north latitude.
Subsequently the same kind of dispute
arose between Penn-
sylvania and Virginia, which continued
until after the close of
the Revolutionary War and was settled in
1785 by extending the
original Mason and Dixon's line due west
five degrees of longi-
tude, to be computed from the Delaware
River, as the southern
boundary of Pennsylvania and the
northern one of Virginia, and
establishing a line running north from
this point and extremity
as the western boundary of Pennsylvania,
and so it has remained
to this day; this latter line became
also the eastern line of the
Western Reserve.
This was the origin of the famous Mason
and Dixon's line
- famous for the part it had in the
irrepressible conflict between
freedom and slavery in the United
States; and it will be seen
that in its origin, it had nothing
whatever to do with this matter.
Its only subsequent connection with this
subject was that by
the compromise measures of 1850, Congress
adopted an exten-
sion of this line west of the State of
Missouri as the boundary
line between the prospective free and
slave States.
And it will be seen that from first to
last the line was a
compromise - first, a rightful
compromise, in favor of peace
and unity, of the disputed claims of
contesting owners, and last,
a base compromise between freedom and
slavery, by which the
representatives in the Congress of a
great free Republic under-
took to devote a territory, large enough
for an empire, forever
to human slavery and human bondage. And
the ill fame of
Mason and Dixon's line, thus acquired by
its subsequent adop-
tion in a bad cause, has so overshadowed
the just fame of its
origin that the latter is little known
and less remembered.
But, to return to our history of the
Reserve. As I have
said, the States having claims to
western territory surrendered
262 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
the same to the general Government.
Connecticut, in doing so
by her deed of cession of September 14,
1786, reserved a tract of
land bounded north by the international
line, east by the western
line of Pennsylvania, south by the
forty-first parallel of north
latitude, and west by a line parallel
with and one hundred and
twenty miles west from the Pennsylvania
line.
Practically the northern line is Lake
Erie, so that this terri-
tory is bounded north by Lake Erie, east
by Pennsylvania, south
by forty-one degrees north latitude, and
west by a line parallel
with and one hundred and twenty miles
west of the Pennsylvania
line. And this is the "Connecticut
Western Reserve," and so
called because Connecticut, in
surrendering her claims to western
lands, reserved to herself this
territory and did not grant it by
her deed of cession.
By reference to your maps you will see
that this forty-first
parallel of north latitude - the
southern boundary of the Reserve,
-- passes through the southern parts of
Mahoning and Summit
counties, and is the southern line of
Portage, Medina, and Huron
counties. The Reserve now embraces
Ashtabula and Trumbull
counties, two-thirds of Mahoning,
Portage, Geauga, Lake, and
Cuyahoga, and the most of Summit,
Medina, Lorain, Erie and
Huron counties.
During the Revolutionary War many people
of Connecticut
had seriously suffered, chiefly from
fire, from the incursions of
the British troops, and the State being
poorly able to compen-
sate them in money decided to do so in
land. Accordingly the
General Assembly of that State appointed
a committee to deter-
mine the names and losses of these
sufferers. The number was
thus determined to be 1,870, and the
aggregate of losses £161,-
548 11s 6½d, and on May 11, 1792, the State quit-claimed for the
benefit of these sufferers its title to
500,000 acres of land lying
across the west end of the Western
Reserve, embracing what are
now the counties of Erie and Huron. And
this tract has ever
since been known as "The Fire
Lands."
After the cession of her western claims
to the general gov-
ernment and the use of the Fire Lands
portion of the Reserve
to pay her debt to some of her people,
it became a serious ques-
tion with Connecticut what to do with
the remainder of the
The Western Reserve. 263
Western Reserve. It was not exactly like
a "White Elephant"
on her lands, for it cost her nothing,
but it was quite like one in
the respect.that she had no use for it
and could not sell it. She
tried to sell it and failed. It was a
long way off from Connecti-
cut, was a wilderness scarcely known,
and was inhabited only by
savages, who claimed and had an older
and better title than she
had. Besides, her own title was liable
to serious objection and
was in great danger of being superseded
by the better title of the
United States, derived either from the
cessions from the other
States claiming the same territory, or,
if they had no title, from
the treaty of peace with Great Britain,
which ceded to the United
States all her claims to this territory.
There was another reason,
to be mentioned later, why Connecticut
found it difficult to sell
the Western Reserve, but finally in
September, 1795, she sold
the whole remaining tract, without measurement,
to thirty-five
persons for $1,200,000. This, the
largest land sale ever made in
Ohio, was purely a matter of
speculation.
The purchase was supposed to contain over
4,000,000 acres,
and at just 4,000,000 acres, the
original price of all the land in
the Western Reserve, except the Fire
Lands, was thirty cents an
acre. But, because Lake Erie, the north
boundary, took toward
the west, a more southerly trend than
was supposed or shown
by the old maps, the amount was in fact,
a little less than three
million acres. The fact that a mistake
of over a million acres
could be made in a single land sale will
serve to call attention
to the then condition of this part of
the country, and how little
was known of it.
This $1,200,000, with its accumulated interest, has for many
years constituted the entire common
school fund of the State of
Connecticut. It could not well have been
put to better use.
The purchase was made upon credit, the
purchasers giving
their several bonds for several sums
aggregating $1,200,000, and
afterwards generally securing their
payment by mortgages.
While the purchase was nominally made by
thirty-five persons,
there were fifty-eight interested in it.
These organized themselves into what is
known as "The
Connecticut Land Co.," caused the
purchase to be surveyed into
townships five miles square, and
subsequently divided it among
264 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
the owners in proportion to the sum paid
by each of the
$1,200,000
purchase price.
There is much interesting history
connected with this part
of the transaction, but the time or
occasion does not serve
to state it here; but there are a few
facts connected with it
that ought to be more generally known.
Usually in tracing
title to land in this country, and
whenever that title is in dispute,
it is necessary, in order to maintain
it, to trace the title, in regu-
lar succession, either to a sovereign
State or to the United States,
the only recognized sources of title to
lands. But on the Western
Reserve, outside of the Fire Lands, it
is necessary to trace it
back only to the Connecticut Land
Company. This is because
by the act of its legislature all the
title that Connecticut had to
this part of the Reserve passed to and
vested in that company,
so that if the State had title this
Company had, and any the
properly derived from it must be good
and it is unnecessary to go
back any further. And, on the other
hand, if Connecticut had no
title originally, because of the better
title in one or more of the
States, yet these had conveyed their
title to the general Govern-
ment, and if none of them had title then
the United States ob-
tained an absolute title by the treaty
of peace with Great Britain,
and when later, as will be mentioned, it
accepted governmental
jurisdiction over the Reserve, it
confirmed the title of Connecti-
cut and of the Land Company. So that
there is no place where
there is better or more security for
land titles than on the Re-
serve, as they merge the title of all
the claimant States of the
United States, and of Great Britain. But
even this, as in the
case of most original land grabbers,
takes no account of the
better Indian title, of which I shall
speak later.
Another matter of interest is the
frequency with which the
names of persons occur in the names of
townships on the Re-
serve. As I have said, the Connecticut
Land Company appor-
tioned its land in proportion to the
sums paid by the original
purchasers. In some cases, one paid for
and took a whole town-
ship and called it after his name. Thus
Cleveland was named
for General Moses Cleveland, Warren for
Moses Warren, one
of the surveyors and proprietors,
Youngstown for John Young,
and many others in the same way.
The Western Reserve. 265
Another matter of interest and of more
importance is the
way land is decribed on the Reserve, as
to the township in
which it lies, on deeds of conveyance.
Originally, and to a
great extent still, it is described as
being in township number -
of Range - west, in the Connecticut
Western Reserve, and this
is quite as accurate and certain without
the name of the township
or even the county as with it. As I have
said, the southeast cor-
ner of the Western Reserve is the
intersection of the western line
of Pennsylvania with the forty-first
parallel of north latitude.
The surveyors laid off the Reserve into
townships five miles
square, beginning five miles west of
this southeast corner, and
running north to the north boundary,
Lake Erie. Other parallel
lines, five miles apart, were run until
the western boundary was
reached. The spaces between these lines
were called ranges.
Thus, the first, or the one next the
Pennsylvania line, was called
range one, the next, range two, and so
on. Then lines were
run transversely, or east and west, five
miles apart, beginning
five miles north of the south boundary
line. The spaces be-
tween these lines were called townships,
and were numbered
consecutively from the southern lines,
so that a township was
accurately described by stating in what
range it was west and the
number of township north. Thus
Youngstown is township two
of range two, for it is the second
township north of the southern
boundary and in the second range of
townships west of the Penn-
sylvania line. Warren is township four
because it is the fourth
one north, and range four because it is
the fourth range of town-
ships west of the Pennsylvania line. So
that any township is
accurately described by its number and
range.
Having thus spoken very generally of the
survey and distri-
bution of these lands, we now go back to
the time when this
survey was begun. These bold prospectors
of a new country
had bought a large tract of land for an
enormous sum in those
days, and the serious question for them
with reference to this
purchase, was "What shall the
harvest be?" Many of them were
anxious to try their fortunes in the
West, but it was a very far-off
West. Not only was their purchase an
absolutely unbroken wil-
derness, but it was separated from them
by many leagues of wil-
derness, forest, lake, river, swamp, and
mountain, inhabited by
266 Ohio Arch. and His.
Society Publications.
the most savage and warlike Indian
tribes, with no roads but
such as they cut through the woods, and
no food or supplies but
what they took with them. Canandaigua,
N. Y., and Pittsburg
were the western outposts of
civilization, the Reserve being ab-
solutely uninhabited save by Indians,
and save the ponies and
dogs of the Indians, not a domestic
animal was in the entire ter-
ritory, nor was there any white
settlement or road.
Under these circumstances the purchasers
of the Reserve
undertook to find out "What shall
the harvest be." In the
spring of 1796 they sent out a party of
surveyors, fifty persons all
told, with General Moses Cleveland at
the head. Some of them
took their families with them, intending
to settle there. The
party assembled at Schenectady and
finally reached Buffalo
Creek, where the city of Buffalo now
stands, and there they pur-
chased from the Indians the remainder of
their title to the
land.
And here, to their credit, and much to
our gratification
also, be it said, the Whole Indian title
for this land was bought
from them and paid for. Not a foot of it
was obtained by con-
quest or force, - a happy exception to
the way that Indian titles
lave generally been disposed of.
True, as is usual, the Indians were
cheated because of
their ignorance of the value of what
they sold and of what
they got; nevertheless it was a bargain
to which both agreed,
and it was not, as was generally the
case, the taking by the strong
hand what the weaker one could not hold.
The price paid
for the remainder of this title was £500
New York currency,
paid in trade, two beef cattle, and one
hundred gallons of whisky.
It would seem, if this party of fifty
reserved any considerable
quantity for themselves, they must have
started out with a pretty
good supply of whisky, and while that
beverage has played
many of the settlers of the Reserve many
a scurvy trick, it stood
these men in good stead, for whisky was
so essential an element
in every Indian trade that probably
without it the bargain could
not have been consummated.
The party proceeded westward to the
present site of Con-
neaut, which they reached July 4th, and
proceeded to celebrate
the twentieth anniversary of
independence, which they did, say
The
Western Reserve. 267
the old chroniclers, with much
enthusiasm and "several pails of
grog." This place they made their base, and the settlement of
the Reserve properly dates from this
celebration.
From here General Cleveland and some of
his companions
moved west to the mouth of the Cuyahoga,
where Cleveland now
stands. But there was no Cleveland there
then - nothing but
the lake, the mouth of the river, and
the wilderness, but ever
since then there have been white
settlers at that place.
The survey lasted some years, but was
finally completed and
the land divided, as I have said.
Meanwhile settlements pro-
ceeded but slowly. Besides its
remoteness from civilization, the
leagues of wilderness that lay between,
and its own wilderness
character, the title of Connecticut and
therefore of the Land
Company was always more or less
questioned. In addition to
this was the most unique fact in the
history of any country.
When Connecticut sold to the Land
Company, she parted so far
as she could, with all her right,
jurisdictional as well as to the
soil, but whether a State could transfer
its jurisdiction over
half its territory to a party of private
land speculators and confer
upon them governmental jurisdiction, was
a serious question.
Certainly the purchasers never attempted
to exercise any
such governmental jurisdiction nor to
enact any laws. They
made frequent applications to
Connecticut to extend her juris-
diction and laws over the territory, and
to the United States to
accept jurisdiction, but all were
refused. The purchasers and
settlers repudiated the ordinance of
1787 as extending to this
territory, because to accept it would be
to admit a superior title
in the United States, which would be
fatal to that of Connecti-
cut and therefore fatal to that of the
Land Company and the
settlers.
Subsequently, in 1800, acts of Congress
and of the Connecti-
cut legislature confirmed the title of
Connecticut to the soil of
the Reserve on the one hand, and
released to the United States
all jurisdiction over it on the other.
And then, for the first time
in its history, the Western Reserve came
within any civil juris-
diction and its people were protected
and governed by law. But,
from the time of the sale by Connecticut
to the Connecticut Land
Company in 1795 to this acceptance of
jurisdiction in 1800, the
268 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
Western Reserve was absolutely without
laws or government of
any kind. There were no courts, no laws,
no records, no magis-
trates or police and no modes of
enforcing or protecting land
titles, contracts, or personal rights.
It was a veritable "No man's
Land", so far as government and law
were concerned. This
was a poor place for lawyers, as it
always is where people will
behave themselves without them. It was
not even a pure
Democracy, for there the people meet to
enact laws and enforce
rights. Here they did not and could not.
Some seventy miles
of unbroken wilderness of forests,
lakes, rivers, and swamps sep-
arated the two settlements at Cleveland
and Youngstown. And
yet, so trained to civil government and
obedience to law were
the settlers that they felt no need of
either.
Lands were bought and sold, personal
contracts made, mar-
riages solemnized, and personal rights
respected as in the best-
governed societies, and all without
government and without law.
This speaks well for these Yankee
pioneers, who brought with
them into the wilderness much of the
training and spirit of the
Pilgrim Fathers, and of the manners,
customs, and habits of New
England, which have made our people so
like those of that sec-
tion and so many of our towns and
villages like their proto-
types of New England. In many of our
villages I can almost
see my native town, New Milford,
Connecticut, with its white
churches, shoolhouse, stores, shops and
tavern fronting on the
village green. But I miss, and gladly,
the whipping post and
stocks that used to stand on the green
almost in front of the
church. These were among the
institutions that those pioneers
thought they could get along without and
left behind, as they did
also their very bad habit of burning and
drowning witches, and
I have never heard that our people have
suffered from the dis-
continuance of these punishments.
Possibly we might not suffer
from some more leniency in the
punishments we now inflict.
Besides the abandonment of the hanging
and drowning of sus-
pected witches and of the stocks and
whipping post there are
other reforms in our penal code that we
might adopt with credit
to our humanity.
In the same year (1800) that the Reserve
came within civil
jurisdiction, the whole was organized
into one county, Trumbull,
The Western Reserve. 269
with the county seat at Warren. This has
been subdivided into
the twelve counties comprising the
present Western Reserve.
We have thus very generally traced the
history of the Con-
necticut Western Reserve from the causes
that led to it down
to the time of the survey and the
distribution of its land and its
organization under civil government.
Looking back over a
period of more than a hundred years, we
have seen the first rude
settlements at Conneaut and at
Cleveland, and contrasting its
present with its then condition, we may
form some idea of what
lay before those bold New England
pioneers in this substantially
unknown wilderness, which afforded them
not even the means
of subsistence.
The settlers at Conneaut and Cleveland
had to obtain their
supplies from the nearest point in the
State of New York where
they were obtainable, while for those in
the southern portion
Pittsburg was the nearest point at which
they could obtain the
means of subsistence, and in each case,
through an unbroken
wilderness as wild and pathless as that
they inhabited. Some
idea of prices under these circumstances
may be formed when
we know that common coarse salt cost six
dollars per bushel.
The next settlement was in 1797 at
Youngstown. This
soon took precedence of all others and
retained it for some years.
In 1798 there were but fifteen families
on the Reserve. Ten of
these were at Youngstown, three at
Cleveland, and two at Men-
tor. In 1799 Youngstown was the largest
town on the Reserve,
and Warren, which was laid out in the
spring of that year, was
the next, but soon became the first in
size and importance. In
1800 there were 1,302 persons on the
Reserve, and from this
period the number increased rapidly.
To describe the life of these early
settlers would be to de-
scribe the life of the first settlers of
every new forest country.
It was a life of hardship, toil, and
privation, with few of the
comports and none of the luxuries of
life. The trees had to be
cut away to make room for the houses and
forests cleared for
fields; fences were of poles, and plows
were guided be-
tween and around the stumps; houses were
of rough logs,
and floors of puncheons or split logs
laid with the flat side
270 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
up, and rough benches and stools served
as chairs and sofas.
Occasionally there was a house of hewed
logs, but these were
the aristocratic mansions of the day and
were not common. The
principal recreations for the men were
hunting, fishing, and trap-
ping, while for the women - well, poor
souls, they didn't have
any. Life on the Reserve to-day is one
thing. It was differ-
ent then.
But these people had brought with them
from their far-off
Eastern homes, the New England ideas of
religion and of the
importance of education, and wherever
they went in sufficient
numbers the church and the schoolhouse
followed as soon as
a clearing could be made for them. Rude
and primitive they
were, as were the homes of the settlers,
but "The groves were
God's first temples" and perhaps
the rude church of the pioneers
was the next. And who shall say that the
religion inculcated
there in that solemn forest cathedral,
where "the stars were the
chandeliers and the deep-toned thunder
the organ," was not as
pure, undefiled, and acceptable as that
in the "long-drawn aisle
and fretted vault" of any modern
cathedral? And, judging from
the result, education, the twin sister
of religion, has not suffered
from her early life in the log
schoolhouse of the western pioneer.
Ideas of religion and education were as
deeply rooted in the
minds and hearts of these people as was
their love for liberty
and independence, and to this we owe the
facts that nowhere
in a large and thickly settled country
are the people generally
so moral and well behaved as on the
Reserve, and no place where
education is so general among the
people.
It is a singular circumstance that a
people who had fled
from tyranny to obtain freedom and whose
love of liberty was
so deeply rooted as it was in our
ancestors, should themselves be
a people of slave holders, but such was
the fact, and slavery pre-
vailed to a greater or less extent in
every province and State.
But in the north it was felt to be
incompatible with their idea of
personal liberty, hence was never
extensively practiced and was
early abandoned. But that slavery was a
sort of divine insti-
tution was one of the religious tenets
of very religious Con-
necticut.
The Western Reserve. 271
But that this was a matter of education
and not of real
honest belief in shown by the fact that
no sooner had they broken
out of the shell of New England
conservatism and cast off the
swaddling clothes of New England
superstition that had cramped
and deformed them and had migrated to
where freedom lived
and kept open house out doors, than
their real love of liberty
and hatred of slavery found scope for
expression, and their
preachers and teachers preached and
taught what they would
not have dared or felt inclined to
preach or teach in liberty-lov-
ing Connecticut, and the Western Reserve
soon became famous
for its opposition to slavery in the
United States.
This feeling found ample expression in
the National Con-
gress from such men as Whittlesey, Judge
Newton, Giddings,
Wade, John Hutchins and Garfield from
this district, and many
others, and would have found the same
expression from our
later Representatives, E. B. Taylor and
S. A. Northway, but that
since their official life began we have
in the United States -
thank God and Abraham Lincoln - no
slavery to oppose, and
the Western Reserve has had her full
share in bringing about
that consummation.
THE PRESENT WESTERN RESERVE.
I have thus sketched a very general
outline of the Western
Reserve as it was. What it is at present
is a matter of general
knowledge. From the few scattered
inhabitants of a century
ago the population has increased to
nearly 1,OOO,000, about one
fifth the population of the entire
State. Instead of interminable
forests we have cultivated farms and
fields; where stood the
wigwam of the Indian and the log cabin
of the settler, we have
large cities and towns, and comfortable,
beautiful houses and
homes all over the land. The Indian,
with his councils and pow-
wows, has disappeared, and the white man
reigns in his stead,
the bear, wolf, panther, and deer have
gone and in their stead are
horses, cattle, sheep, and other
domestic animals useful to man.
The wild turkey can no more be hunted in
our forests, but its
successors yet remain to grace our
Thanksgiving and Christmas
boards. All that was primitive, savage,
and wild has given way
before the irresistible march of
civilization and progress. The
272 Ohio Arch. and His. Society
Publications.
rivers that used to wend their devious,
silent way to the lake
or the great river, hearing no sound
save that of Nature in
her various voices, now flow through
verdant meadows, cul-
tivated fields, and prosperous towns,
and are alive with the
hum and whirr of the wheels of busy
industry. The canoe has
given way to the steamboat, and instead
of the Indian trail and
the rough road cut through the woods and
traversed by ox carts
we have the railroad and the locomotive
that annihilate time and
space and carry us away across the
continent in a week, while
we eat, sleep, chat, or smoke at the
rate of forty miles an hour.
Instead of the Indian runner or the less
fleet white messenger
we have captured and harnessed the
lightning to carry our mes-
sages and to enable us to talk across a
continent, as with a
friend face to face. The log
schoolhouse, with its rough benches,
puncheon floors, and primitive teachers,
has disappeared, but
the rudiments of education there
acquired have found apt ex-
pression in the colleges, academies, and
high schools, with their
splendid buildings, and the less
pretentious schoolhouses that
dot the land and bring the means of
education to our very doors
in every little school district, with a
corps of teachers who for
learning, ability, and general fitness
for their task rank high as
educators and make the Western Reserve
famous for the general
education and enlightenment of its
people. And the newspaper,
that great educator, molder of public
opinion, and director of
events, without which no education is
complete and thoroughly
useful, filled with the news of the
entire globe and editorials and
contributed articles upon every known
subject, and worthy of
the best statesmen, scholars, and
writers - now sends its four
to forty-four pages of daily information
and education to almost
every fireside on the day of or the day
after its publication.
The primitive church - often the little
log schoolhouse - with
its occasional itinerant preacher, has
been succeeded by the mag-
nificent cathedral, the splendid
temples, and the more modest vil-
lage and country church. But the same
religion and religious
services that helped, comforted, and
blessed the early pioneer in
his far-off forest home, yet remain and
are taught and held by
a body of learned, cultivated, devoted,
and zealous Christian
preachers and teachers, whose daily
life, teaching, and example
The Western Reserve. 273
are not only an education, but an
incentive to a better life; and
of them, individually, it may be said,
as it was of Goldsmith's
Village Preacher:
"And as a bird each fond endearment
tries
"To tempt its new-fledged offspring
to the skies,
"He tried each art, reproved each
dull delay,
"Allured to brighter worlds, and
led the way."
Such is a very imperfect general outline
of the Western
Reserve of to-day, and by noting the
contrast between the pres-
ent conditions and those of a century
ago we may form some idea
of what the harvest has been and what a
century of civilization
and progress has brought. And here in
this splendid temple, a
provision of the Western Reserve of
to-day, devoted to the
amusement, entertainment and diversion
of our people, looking
back over a period of a hundred years,
and contrasting the
present Western Reserve with that of a
century ago, those of
you who believe in Him, through faith,
and those who believe
in His direct interposition in human
affairs, and those who see
Him in His manifestations, His works,
and in natural laws, may
all join in the grateful exclamation:
"Behold what God hath
wrought!"
NOTE. - The
foregoing address was delivered by Mr.
Hutchins at Warren, Ohio, April 15,
1898, at a meeting under
the auspices of the "Women's
Friendly Union." - E. O. R.
Vol. VII.-- 18